It’s the part of the clothes-shopping trip that most shoppers like least: heading to the fitting room to try things on. And retailers have made little progress in improving that experience, even though a little effort could help them reap financial rewards, according to experts.

“If you have a well-run fitting room, it drives an increasing conversion rate and increasing basket size,” said Al Sambar, managing partner and retail strategist at Kurt Salmon, a management consulting firm.

‘Make the fitting room more comfortable. Make it so that there’s a reason why I want to go in there, not like I’m going into a jail cell.’
Marshal Cohen, NPD Group

Like it or not, retailers today are competing with the juggernaut that is Amazon.com Inc.
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for every sale, which makes the in-store experience a traditional retailer’s biggest advantage. Yet many fail to make the experience worth a trip to the store, missing out on a key opportunity to bond with their customers.

Fitting rooms are typically small and cramped. Customers can have trouble getting an employee to open a locked door. They are often limited in how many items they can have at a time. And in busy stores, they can be treated with suspicion when they leave the room and shop assistants count and examine every item.

“Make the fitting room more comfortable,” is the advice from Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst at the NPD Group Inc. “Make it so that there’s a reason why I want to go in there, not like I’m going into a jail cell.”

A 2016 survey by Body Labs, a company that uses technology to collect and organize information about human body shapes, poses and movement, found that 46% of consumers “hate” trying on clothes in a fitting room. And while 67% of those surveyed said they would still probably use the fitting room before making a purchase, they do not walk away satisfied.

A full 22% of in-store purchases are returned, according to Body Labs, a figure that is virtually the same as the 23% of online purchases that are returned.

“Retailers must learn how to take the experience of shopping to the next level,” said Cohen. “Otherwise, why not shop online?”

What Are Your Clothes Worth?

The key is to determine what a “well run” fitting room looks like. In large part, it has to do with sales associates and the personalized service they can provide.

Many salespeople will escort a shopper into the fitting room and invite that customer to give them a shout if they need anything. But when that same half-dressed customer sticks his or her head out of the room for help, the sales associate is nowhere to be found. That’s because they wear many hats today.

“Associates are under pressure to do a lot of different things in the store,” Kurt Salmon’s Sambar said, everything from serving customers to restocking shelves to working behind the register. Add the needs of a multichannel retailer, and you have an associate who is also packing boxes to send merchandise for delivery.

“The fitting-room environment is increasingly challenged because of omnichannel,” said Sambar, using the term adopted for retailers that operate on multiple platforms.

The personalized experience that might make a fitting room more pleasant isn’t a one-size-fits-all proposition. A luxury retailer will offer the individual level of service that the pricey garments for sale afford. A teen retailer, on the other hand, will not. In fact, millennials would probably appreciate something more social.

Even with many people using fitting rooms, the rate of merchandise returns is high.

Here’s where technology comes into play. The main question a customer is asking when they walk into a fitting room is this: “Does this look good on me?” Technology could make finding that answer easier.

“Trying on clothing is a really tedious process,” said Jon Cilley, who holds the title of chief evangelist at Body Labs.

Shoppers will try an item on at one store and assume that is their size for all items at all retailers. That makes them think there’s no need to try things on. That may be one way to avoid the fitting room, but it leads to an increased rate of merchandise returns.

“Fit is more than whether it’s falling off or is a little more snug. It’s about how it looks on you and how it plays into your preference,” said Cilley, who suggested that a “digital fitting room” that can scan a customer to gather data that can be used to find the correct fit both in-store and online, is one option.

“If you can do all of that digitally, it will open all kinds of doors,” Cilley said.

Even installing a button in the fitting room to summon an associate is a good first step.

“The challenge for retailers is to design the experience that is appropriate for the customers,” said Sambar.

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